Unveiled
by Starsights
Summary: When Jedi Master Asteria is haunted by memories of the plaguemaster Lord Vivicar, she tries to find ways to get rid of the nightmares, but discovers that she shouldn't have kept her emotions bottled. *SPOILERS FOR CONSULAR STORYLINE*


**A/N: Due to my character's name being the same as my username on this site I used another name instead to avoid awkwardness xD. **

**I changed up the way the Consular and Iresso first kissed just for the fun of it, and I also believe that that entire plaguemaster scenario would haunt my character for a long while, especially if you chose the dark side option to that quest, which I did lol. **

**Contains spoilers for the Consular Storyline of course :P **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Iresso, or Star Wars the Old Republic, but I do own Starsights/Asteria.**

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**One- Shot**

**Unveiled**

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She sat on her bed, crying bitterly as visions of the nightmare passed over her again and again. The struggling Jedi Master didn't want to tell anyone about what she felt, didn't want them to worry about her- _the_ Master Asteria and Barsen'thor of the galaxy who was supposed to represent a beacon of hope and strength.

But it was all a lie that she presented them. Inside, storms raged on and on, drowning her in the oceans over and over as she kept swimming to the surface to gasp for air. She kept on wondering to herself:

_Why haven't these visions stopped? That day happened so long ago…_

But then she discovered they would never cease from haunting her. Though there was no one who she knew that would listen to ease her pain, not even her crewmates. Qyzen was a good friend, but she wasn't certain he'd understand… Tharan was another situation, she and Zenith were friends but mainly with strategies, politics, and diplomacy it seemed; and Nadia… The young woman just lost her father two days ago, and Asteria didn't want to add her problems to her burgeoning burden.

Then there was Iresso. She and the lieutenant knew each other well, but there was always an existing barrier intact somewhere there.

Sighing, Asteria wrapped her night robes around her and clutched her arms as she left her quarters. She walked through the dimly-lit corridors of her ship barefoot, trembling as the thoughts attacked her again; Asteria continued on to the main deck and saw Iresso there, keeping watch in space for an hour or so during the night before heading off to bed. He didn't seem to hear her approach, and her talent with stealth added to that.

Asteria wished she had never come out during his night shift, but yet again her heart knew she had to say something, anything to keep the nightmares away.

"Lieutenant Iresso?" she said, her throat dry and her mind drained of any other proper greeting she could've thought of. Though for now, she kept her emotions bottled.

He turned around and saluted "Master Asteria" he greeted

Asteria stared back at him blankly. Now what?

"Our path to Belsavis is clear, not a peep from an Imperial heard"

The Jedi Master gave a barely visible smile and sat down on one of the chairs overlooking the passing of space before them. She gestured him to sit to the one next to her and he obliged. Silence lingered between them for what seemed like a thousand years, then the visions returned.

Jedi Masters were burning around her, including her own. They were all crying for mercy towards her and asking "Why? Why?", Asteria couldn't answer them; she was left speechless, torn, and hurt.

Little did she know that in reality, she was crying again. Asteria almost slapped herself for letting her content, collected mask fall off. It wasn't supposed to go like this, she never wanted him involved in her suffering, with fear that the darkness that surrounds her will engulf him too.

"Jed-Asteria what's wrong?" he asked the unconsciously held her hand.

"Please don't hurt me!" she cried. Never in her life had she felt so vulnerable a darkness like this one, and now she was truly feeling helpless as the Masters in her nightmare all drew their lightsabers and began targeting her. She covered her face as she felt their auras come nearer.

"I won't hurt you, just hold on." Felix persisted and put his arm around her, drawing her close.

And then she was saved.

Asteria looked past her hand and saw the familiar interior of her ship, relief washed over her senses for a short while, then she felt his presence. It comforted her and her thoughts, enough for her to muster the confidence to explain.

"Felix…" Asteria whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder. Their position was almost _intimate_, something the headstrong, and code-following Asteria would've highly disapproved of, but she was nothing but a disguise.

"I'm sorry"

"What are you sorry for? You've done nothing wrong…" he said.

"I could've put you in danger… And it's all because of my stupidity to kill Vivicar!" she hissed.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, and who's this "Vivicar"? And what happened to you?"

Asteria sighed and faced him, with their hands still in each other's hold. His eyes gave her reassurance, comfort, and…

_He cares for me…_ she thought as the realization dawned upon her. All those times he complimented her, how he defended her against enemies, and that time he told her she was beautiful when she thought she was just a plain-looking Jedi with green eyes and a brown little ponytail with right side bangs.

_Am I really that blind?_

"Before I came to Hoth… My Master Yuon Par became ill…"

Asteria continued to tell the story of how she went to search for a possible cure to her Master's illness and her discoveries of Noetikons which helped her gain an ability to heal the victims of the plague that was killing her Master. The Jedi Master went on with telling the lieutenant how the individual who was causing the plague spread it to several other Masters on different planets that she had to go to.

"…sometimes I arrived too late, others I barely managed to save. Either way, innocent lives were lost every second, lives I could've saved if I had just known sooner. In the end I made the foolish decision and killed the plaguemaster who caused all the trouble, his death would end those who I've shielded from his plague and all my work went to nothing" Asteria whispered. "I killed all of the ones who I wanted to protect, just because I wanted him dead with no mercy".

Felix wrapped his arm around her again as she came to the end of her tale "And after all that, the Council came and rewarded me with the title of Barsen'thor." Asteria shook her head "I felt disgusted being awarded for killing lives like that, and even more as to how I saw that the Council couldn't care less. Ever since then, I felt guilty for bearing the title, had nightmares of the Masters killing me or being tortured."

"I'm sorry you had to endure all of that alone… And to hide your emotions from everyone…" he whispered and took off the hair tie that held up her medium-length hair.

"I'm fine, as long as I know you're at my side and fighting" Asteria said, facing him with a genuine smile.

"Asteria, I love you" Felix confessed and caressed her smooth face.

The Jedi Order looked down upon relationships with the thought of them leading to the dark side, but all Asteria felt was her love for him as well, no dark side, no Vivicar, and no pain. Just the man before her.

"I love you too"

Felix raised her chin and kissed her. Warmth and passion flowed through their blood as Asteria held the back of his head and deepened the kiss. It was unlike anything she had ever imagined, and certainly different from that of Tharan's kisses from that one night she had agreed to out of loneliness.

They broke apart and mesmerized in each other's eyes, feeling peace and serenity as well as love.

There can be emotion with peace.

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**A/N: Meh, I tried. XD Reviews are love **


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